Wednesday, 16 August 2017

Here we are again at another challenge for Watercooler Wednesday and its Marsha's Masculine 'Anything Goes'. I have to admit I don't have any masculine type stamps - I used to use Wetlands but since it retired I haven't really purchased any SU stamps with a masculine theme. What I quite like doing though is thinking a bit outside of the box and using other stamps and papers to bring a masculine feel.

My card today uses some of the new Designer Series Paper called Coffee Break from the Coffee Suite - oh my if you haven't seen these papers yet you are missing a real treat. They are so gorgeous - here you see both sides of the one sheet - and I just love those blues. I've made a small envelope using the Envelope Punch Board to add to the front of the card and added the little note with the sentiments both coming from Best Birds.I've added a touch of our new gorgeous ribbons - this one is Classic Weave ribbon in Crumb Cake. I added a small enamel shape - a heart - that still keeps the card masculine right?I hope you come and join us at Watercooler Wednesday challenge this week - do pop and visit the rest of the Design Team and leave us a comment - we love to hear from you. Just click on the Watercooler Logo at the top of the page to play along.

I'm joining in with Kylie Bertucci's International Blog Hop again this month and the theme is Teacher's Gifts.

Well I have to admit its been a while since I've needed to make any of these - my kids are now fully grown and sadly, when they were in school, I wasn't involved with Stampin' Up! Maybe I have to wait for grandkids now! eek!

But still I like to think that teacher's would like this gift I have made for them - it says Thank You all over it and is a gift box which holds up to 6 Thank You cards.

I've used the Delightful Daisy Designer Series Paper and the Daisy Punch and the sentiments from Thankful Thoughts.

Orange is not normally my colour but it does go so well with the Designer Series Paper.

Look at that gorgeous ribbon on the top left - its one of our new ones - I must say I am loving this year's ribbons - and am making sure I put them on all my projects - this one is Stitched Edge in Pumpkin Pie - its so pretty. I sometimes think you actually need to see and feel the ribbons to appreciate them - I was lucky to be part of a Ribbon share where a few of us Demonstrators get together and buy some and share - a great way to see which ones you like before purchasing all of them!

I'd love it if you voted for my project - follow this link and see all the other entrants

Tuesday, 15 August 2017

Wow - we are up to Challenge #004 already on Joy of Sets Challenge blog - and our challenge this week is the letter 'B'. I'm sure lots of you have lots of Stampin' Up! Sets with that letter in it. I have chosen to use Beautiful You as I haven't used it in a while.

There have been so many clever stamping ideas being used for this set and this image of the lady in particular but I wanted to go back to basics with it and keep it simple and just let the image and the sentiment speak for themselves.

Ive used Early Espresso as the card base and Sahara Sand for the layer - (although it does look like grey on the image). The lady ws coloured in with Tempting Turquoise ink using a blender pen and a touch of Berry Burst for her hat. The dress was covered in Wink of Stella and I just touched it up with a white gel pen. I used the same gel pen for the stitching on the Early Espresso and an Early Espresso marker pen for the stitching on the Sahara Sand. The thread is some of the lovely Copper Metallic Thread.

I hope you join in with our challenge over at the blog - it lasts for two weeks to give you plenty of time to join in and the winner gets the chance to be our Guest Designer. Do pop along to the rest of the Design Team and leave them a comment - they love to hear from you.All products can be purchased direct from my Store - I would love to be your Stampin' Up! Demonstrator - if you are in my area of Hampshire I run monthly classes so why not come and join in the fun.

Sunday, 13 August 2017

Sam Hammond, who is my upline - runs a Birthday Blog Hop on her Pootles page - its a great chance to see some lovely birthday cards and an excuse to hop around the blogs!

My card for the hop is a take on the Squashed Card I did the other day - this one though is an 8" x 8" and I've done it as a birthday card.

I've used the Watercolor Wings stamp set and some of the sentiments from Pretty Kitty. The Designer Series Papers have come from Delightful Daisy and Coffee Break - my two favourite papers in the new catalogue. The cardstock for the card is Tangerine Tango which was a 12" x 12" sheet of cardstock.

I kept the larger butterfly simple using the framelits to cut out the image out of Wisteria Wonder and then simply stamped all three stamps in Elegant Eggplant. You have to forgive my ink for looking slightly faded but my ink stamp is from 2007 and has NOT been re-inked - how's that for value for money! Some Wink of Stella on the butterfly and basic rhinestones add some sparkle on the outside, and Dazzling Diamonds add some sparkle to the butterflies on the inside. The gorgeous ribbon is also new - and is Stitched Edge ribbon in Rich Razzleberry.I hope you pop along to everyone else in the hop and see what they have come up with.

You will find my tutorial below.

To purchase any of the products I've used - please click on the link below to be taken direct to my store.

Wednesday, 9 August 2017

The ever popular Birthday Challenge is our Challenge this week over at Watercooler Wednesday.

Well, what little story can I tell you about this card - well for a start the background was a complete mistake. You know we never make mistakes in craft world right? They are always Embellishment Opportunities or, in my case, Background opportunities.

I had already stamped the very gorgeous Hello stamp from Floral Statements on to a piece of Very Vanilla and it was sitting on my desk, minding its own business, ready for me to do something with it. My mind, meanwhile, was on a different card and I had been using a lot of Emerald Envy ink and cleaning my stamps with a baby wipe. It, and my fingers, were covered in ink - I admit I had gone a bit overboard on the ink. I just pushed my babywipe to the side of my desk, yes I am that tidy crafter (not!)

Imagine my horror when I realised my very wet wipe had landed on my nice clean piece of Very Vanilla which I had carefully stamped. I was just about to groan and throw it away when I said - hang on a minute I rather like the look of that background - it is as if I planned it! lol! So the colour combination for my card was actually decided right there.

I used some of our watercolour pencils to colour in the flowers and added some of our lovely new ribbon which is Crinkled Seam Ribbon also in Emerald Envy. I repeated the background for the inside of the card and used Birthday Blooms for the flower and the sentiment.

Phew - I hope you stayed with me through all that long explanation - just goes to show where we get our inspiration from!I'm looking forward to seeing all your creations - do pop along to the rest of the Design Team and leave them a comment - we do love to hear from you.

The challenge over at SUO Challenge blog #180 this week is also birthdays so I'm going to add mine into their challenge also.

Friday, 4 August 2017

I am so in love with this little project - do you know when you just do something and just like it straight away - this is how I feel about this Squashed Card - not sure what else to call it really. I found something similar on a youtube tutorial ages ago and put it in my "to do" file - sadly I can't find the original author.I've done two examples - both baby cards which is not like me but I wanted to play with the bookcase builder and thought it would be great for this project.

I've done a pink version and a blue version. The sentiment on the front is from Colourful Seasons and it is just the perfect sentiment for this card. I think from the outside it looks quite plain until you open it up. You can do this type of card any size you like as long as you use a square piece of cardstock - mine started out as a 6" x 6" square.

I've used the Color Theory Designer Series Papers for both - the blues I've used Pacific Point and Crumb Cake for the Teddy. The blue ribbon is one of our gorgeous new ribbons - Stitched Edge Pacific Point.

The Pinks I have used the DSP also and Powder Pink and Berry Burst inks. Also a touch of enamel dots on both cards. The pink ribbon is Double Stitched Blushing Bride - another new ribbon.

I'm adding the pink one into The Paper Players challenge this week which is Tic Tac Toe and luckily mine fits the bill.

I'm also adding this into the As You See It Challenge - they want to know how you get your mojo back. I get mine my trawling through the internet and looking and listening to videos - it helps to listen to a voice when I'm on my own in my craft room - a voice other than mine that is!

Here's the video tutorial - I hope you make some and let me know if you do.

Wednesday, 2 August 2017

Another Wednesday comes round quick and our challenge this week is Gail's Feminine Anything Goes Challenge. It has been a while since I've stamped with the Beautiful You set so I thought it deserved another outing.I've paired it here with some of the new Color Theory Designer Series Paper in Berry Burst. The image of the girl is actually on the inside of the card as I've shown below. I've cut out the oval on the front of the card using the Stitched Framelits and when closed the image pops through.

I used the new In-Colours for the background of Berry Burst, Fresh Fig and Powder Pink and then stamped the woman on top in Basic Black.A touch of our new gorgeous Shimmery Powder Pink Ribbon finishes off the card.I look forward to seeing all your examples - do pop along to the rest of the Design Team and leave them a comment - we love to hear from you.

Tuesday, 1 August 2017

We are up to our third Challenge over at Joy of Sets and this week we are playing with the letter 'C'. Have you noticed our pattern yet? We have been using the letters of the first names of the Design Team! Take two sweets out of the jar if you had guessed!My choice for the letter C is the Coffee Cafe and the whole suite of products which I love. I've used some of the Coffee Break Designer Series Paper as the background - used the Coffee Cup Framelits Dies for the coffee mug, the lovely Currugated Elements on the front of the coffee cup. The images of the coffee pot and mug were fussy cut out of the DSP.

Do pop along to the blog and see what the rest of the Design Team have made for you and what sets they have used - current and retired!

I'm also putting this one into the What Will You Stamp challenge blog which also uses Stampin' Up sets - why not pop along and join in with their challenges also.

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About Me

Hi and welcome to my Stampin' Up! blog. I'm a 50 something mum to Emma now 26 and Christopher now 23. I have been married to Jonathan my best friend for over 30 years. I have two dogs and two cats who sometimes feature on my blog! We live in a beautiful village in the Test Valley in Hampshire. I first used Stampin Up products when I lived in Houston, Texas in 2005. I love all things inky including cards and scrapbooking and being a Stampin' Up! Independent Demonstrator is just such a great job. I run weekly and monthly classes which are great fun. Come along and learn to release your Inner Creativity! I am the owner of the popular Joy of Sets Facebook Group and Challenge Blog. Join my team and become a Crafty Stamper.